E391026B. Findens’ Tableaux (1840).
The Atlas, 26 October 1839, pp. 684–685.
As reprinted in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 411.
We know not in what terms to commend the whole design and execution of this magnificent work. To say that it is the most splendid of all the annuals we have yet seen, and that it is not unlikely, when they shall all have been published, to be pronounced the most splendid among them, would be merely to decide upon it as a work of art; but we allude more expressly to its great and unusual merits as a literary production. Miss Mitford—whose judgment in such matters has been already tested in former publications of this description—appears to have taken extraordinary pains on this occasion to render her book worthy of the patronage of the most fastidious critics in prose and verse, and not only to keep mediocrity out of her pages, but to secure the highest order of talent that could be rendered available in a production of this class.
The contributions are not numerous, a circumstance which has ensured to the writers ample scope for the full development of their subjects. The prose tales are by Miss Mitford and they may be reckoned amongst the most felicitous of her fictions—especially “The Proud Ladye” and the “Roundhead’s Daughter.” Upon a rapid perusal, these stories strike us as the most successful, but if any one should be disposed to prefer the “King’s Page,” “The Beacon,” “The Bride” or “The Woodcutter,” we confess we should be at a loss to assign any satisfactory grounds for maintaining a different opinion. They all possess attractions of some kind, and are so varied in form, matter, and treatment that each may become a special favourite with some readers without casting any reproach upon the taste of others who detect more fascinating qualities elsewhere. The poetical articles are furnished by Miss Barrett, J.R. Chorley, John Hughes, Barry Cornwall, and R.H. Horne. Of all these pieces “The Fetches,” a German trilogy, illustrative of a familiar superstition, common to Germany and Ireland, is the most remarkable, and presents on many accounts the highest claims to precedence.
[Following are several passages from “The Fetches.”] [p. 685→]
We have given so much space to this poem—but not more than it deserves—that we must briefly dispose of the remainder. Miss Barrett’s “Legend of the Brown Rosarie,” “The King’s Forester,” by Mr. Hughes, and “Venice,” by Barry Cornwall, are each of its kind admirable. “The Maid’s Trial,” by Mr. Chorley, is also cleverly imagined and skilfully treated, and the opening piece, by Miss Barrett, called “The Dream,” forms a very appropriate and poetical introduction to the whole. The nature of these poems precludes us, for the most part, from making extracts from them, as we cannot find any passages capable of being severed without injury from the context:—but the following snatch from the lines on Venice, taking apart from the little legend that runs like a thread of light through them, will not suffer by standing alone.
[Following are three verses of the poem .]
Reviewed:
Findens’ Tableaux, ed. M.R. Mitford, London: 1840.
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